New York-based mental health startup Quartet announced Wednesday that the company is partnering with Cambia Health Solutions to provide better mental care through Cambia health plans in the Pacific Northwest.
In addition, it announced that Echo Health Ventures (a joint venture between Cambia Health Solutions and the venture arm of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina) and Deerfield Capital invested another $7.5 million in Quartet. That closes the previously announced Series D funding of $60 million that was led by Centene along with participation from GV (formerly Google Ventures), Oak HC/FT, F-Prime Capital Partners, and Polaris Partners.
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The partnership will initially launch to Cambia’s regional health plan members in Washington state and later expand to the nearby states of Oregon, Idaho, and Utah. The goal of the partnership is to more tightly integrate primary care and mental health care, a growing trend nationally to combine two siloed functions in the past.
“We are deeply committed to delivering an integrated approach to behavioral health that will ensure people can access the care they need on their terms,” said Dr. Cheryl Pegus, president of consumer health solutions and Chief Medical Officer for Cambia, in a news release.
Through the partnership, providers will be able to use Quartet’s platform that is powered by artificial intelligence to identify patients that need behavioral health care. Once recommended, patients can be connected to psychiatrists on Quartet’s network based on the patient’s preference and insurance coverage. Given that the platform is HIPAA compliant, the specialists are able to share their notes with patients’ primary care providers to keep them in the loop of ongoing care.
Historically, it has taken months for mental health patients to get an appointment with a psychiatrist or therapist. By contrast, Quartet’s network of mental health providers is geared to refer patients quickly and provide both offers in-person and telehealth consults with behavioral health specialists. Quartet has worked with more than 60,000 patients nationwide, according to the announcement. In Washington, in which the company been operating since 2016, it has worked with 14,000 patients and has 2,000 mental health and primary care providers in its network.
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“Mental health is an important part of a person’s overall health, yet we know that it can be difficult to get connected to the right care. We’re thrilled to partner with Cambia to make it easier for both patients and providers,” said David Wennberg, CEO of Quartet, in a statement.
The joint announcement follows unsettling news from Tuesday when results of a landmark study on U.S. mortality was published in the Journal of American Medical Association. The study found that over a period of three years between 2014 and 2017, the mortality rate increased after years of decline. The study is concerning given that the trend of declining life expectancy is bucking the overall trend of other, wealthy nations which has seen life expectancy expand. And it’s also embarrassing given that the United States spends more per capita on healthcare than any other nation on the planet.
The causes that are leading more people — especially young and middle-aged people — to die earlier are mainly three-fold: opioid-related deaths, chronic diseases that lead to death and finally suicides. In fact the study found that between 1997 and 2017, suicides increased by 38% overall and jumped 55.9% among those ages 55-64.
Which makes Quartet’s move to provide better mental health care to people both urgent and incumbent.
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